Composite wing structure of light amphibious airplane design, optimization, and experimental testing

A lightweight amphibious aircraft hybrid composite wing was designed and optimized in this study. The Ansys Composite PrepPost and Ansys Mechanical Module use finite element modeling to simulate and assess the static structural test. It is possible to build a lightweight and cost-effective composite wing by balancing the amount and orientation of carbon fiber and glass fiber ply patterns. The BII2 wing design case (spar/rib/skin : (±45)C,(0/90)C,....20/(±45)C,(0/90)G,(±45)C,F)S/(±45)C,(0/90)G,F) is the best option of 72 case studies, with a total weight of 45.46 kg and a manufacturing cost of 1,288 USD. The optimal design composite wing mock-up was built and tested on a universal test rig. The test demonstrated that the optimal wing design could withstand the maximum load (+6G and -3G) without structural collapse. The experimental structural deformation and elastic strain were consistent with the FEM model, within an acceptable error range.